Preston Crown Court to decide if Palestine Action activists face terrorism sentencing
Five activists convicted of damaging a Barclays Bank branch are set to hear if the “terrorist connection” law applies, a move legal experts describe as unusual given the group was not proscribed at the time of the offence.
Preston Crown Court is expected to determine on Friday whether five Palestine Action activists will face terrorism-linked sentencing for criminal damage committed against a Barclays Bank branch in Burnley, Lancashire. The group, known as the “Barclays 5,” was convicted of causing £212,000 in damages during a direct action in August 2024, which targeted the bank’s shareholdings in the Israeli defence company Elbit Systems. Sentencing is scheduled for 4 September, with the court set to decide if the “terrorist connection” provision will be added to their convictions.
The legal question centres on whether the offence carries a “terrorist connection,” a provision that leading criminal lawyer Raj Chada of Hodge Jones & Allen described as “very, very unusual.” Chada noted that while the laws date back years, they appear to have been applied recently and solely in Palestine Action cases. He stated that the application seems designed to target activists whose offences predate the formal banning of the group.
At the time of their verdicts, Palestine Action had not yet been proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Neither the defendants nor the jury were aware that terrorism charges might be involved during the trial. However, following the verdicts, trial judge Philip Parry notified the legal team of his intention to consider the “terrorist connection.” Parry made a similar move after a June ruling in which four Palestine Action activists convicted of criminal damage at Elbit Systems’ Filton site were sentenced as terrorists nearly two years after their protest.
The activists’ supporters have raised questions about Judge Robert Altham, who is expected to decide whether to add the “terrorist connection” to the convictions. His previous sentencing of environmental protesters in September 2018 was later found by the Court of Appeal to be “manifestly excessive.” Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, has called Altham’s involvement in the case “shocking.”
Palestine Action was proscribed by lawmakers in July 2025, placing it on the same legal footing as al-Qaeda and ISIL. According to the rights group Defend our Juries, more than 3,500 people have been arrested for expressing support for the group since the proscription, many through mass sit-ins in Parliament Square. The group noted that many of these arrests involved individuals over the age of 60 protesting with signs reading, “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
A group of supporters is scheduled to gather outside Preston Crown Court on Friday to show solidarity with the “Barclays 5.” Defend our Juries stated that the activists are facing potential terrorist sentencing for spray-painting a bank despite facing no formal terrorism charges during the trial. The group added, “Seeking to prevent the loss of life is not terrorism. Opposing genocide is not terrorism.”
